The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-02-23
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject ot Discourse: "Pillars Of
Smoke"

TEXT: "Who is this that cometh out Of
the ,ctlderaess like pitldrs Of smoke P"-Sol
emon's Song, iii, e.
The architecture of the smoke is wopdrous
whether God with His finger curls it into q
cloud, or rounds it into dome, or points it in
q spire, or spreads it in wing; or, as in the
text, hoists it in pillar. Watch it winding up
from the country farmhouse in the early
morning, showing that the pastoral indus
tries have begun; or see it ascending from
the chimneys Of the city, telling OF the
homes fed, the factories turning out valu-
able fabric, the printing-presseS preparing
book and newspaper, and oil the ten thou
sand wheels of work in motion. On clear
day this vapor spoken Of mounts with such
buoyancy, and spreads such delicate veil
across the sky, and traces such graceful lines
of circle, semi-circle and wave, and toSses,
and sinks and soars and scatters with such
aftiuence of shape, and color, and suggestive
ness. that if you have never noticed it you
are like a man who has all his life lived in
Paris and yet never seen the Luxembourg, or
all his life in Rome and never seen the Nati-
can, or all his life at LocSport and never
seen Niagara Forty-four times the Bible
speaks Of the smoke, and it is about time that
somebody breaches sermon recognizing tins
strange, weird, beautiful, elastic, charming,
terrific and fascinating vapor. Across the
of Sodom, the smoke of Al, the smoke Of the
pit, the smoke of the volcanic hills when God
touches them and in my text the glorious
Church of God coming up out of the wilder
like pillars of smoke.
In the first place, these pillars of smoke in
my text indicate the suffering the Church OF
God has endured What do / mean by the
Churchl mean not building; not sect;
but those who in all ages and all lands, and
of all beliefs, love God and are trying to do
right. Fer many centuries the heavens have
been black with the smoke of martyrdom.
Ii set side by side you could girdle the earth
with the fires of persecution. Rowland Tay-
lor burned at Hadleigh; Latiner burned at
Oxford: John Rogers burned at Smlthiield;
John Hooper burned at Gloucester; John
Huss burned at Constance; Laurence Saun-
ders burned at Coventry: Joan Of Arc
burned at Rouen: ProteStants have some
times pointed to the Catholics as having
q monopoly Of prosecutors; but both
Protestant and Catholic have practiced
Infamous cruelties The Catholics during
the reign of Hunneric were by Protestants
put to the worst tortures, stripped of their
clothing, hoisted in the air by pullevs with
weights suspended from their feet: then let
down, and ears and eyes, nose and tongue
were amputated, and red-hot plates Of iron
were put against the tenderest part of their
bodies. George Bancroft, the historian, says
Of the State of Maryland: I'm the land which
Catholics had opened to Protestants mass
might not be said publicly: no Catholic
priest or bishop might utter his faith in
voice Of persuasion; no Catholic might
teach the young; II f,t wayward shns shlld
tate, the law wrested for him from his
parents share of their property. Such
were the methods adopted to prevent the
growth of Popery." Speaking Of Ireland.
Bancroft, the historian, says: "Such priests
as were permitted to reside in Ireland were
required to be registered, and were kept
like prisoners at large within prescribed
limits. All Papists exercising ecclesiastical
jurisdiction, all monks friars and regular
priests, and all priests not then actually in
parishes and to be registered were banished
from Ireland under pain Of transportation,
and, on return. of being hanged, drawn and
quartered."
Catholicism as we'll as Professionalism has
had its martyrs. 1t does seem as If when any
one sect got complete domiuancy in any land
the devil Of persecution and cruelty took
olics after the Hugenots See the Gentiles
after the Jews in Touraine, where a great
pit was dug and fire lighted at the bottom Of
the pit, and 100 Jewish victims were con-
sumed. See the Presbyterian Parliament of
England, more tyrannical in their
treatment of opponents than had
been the criminal courts Persecution
against the Bantists by Pedo-Baptists.
Persecution Of the Established Church against
the Quakers. Persecution against the Pres
byteriaps. Under Emperor Diocletian one
hundred and iorty-four thousand Christians
were maSsacred, and seven hundred thou
sand more of them died from banishment
and exposure. Witness the sufferings Of the
Waldenses, of the Albigensas, of the
HISTORIANS. Witness ST. Bartholemews
massacre Witness the Duke of Alva
driving 1 ont Of ,,sd lifs eighteen teen thou s
Nero, and Decius. and Hildebrand, and Tor
quemada, and Earl Of Montfort, and Lord
Claverhouse, who, when told that he must
give account for his cruelties said: II have
no need to account to man, and as for God
will take Him in my own hands," A red
line runs through the church history of nine
teen hundred years, a line of blood. Not by
the hundreds of thousands, but by the mill
ions, must we count those slain for ChriSt's
sake. No wonder John Milton put the grcans
of the martyrs to an immortal tune. writing:
"Avenge, o Lord, thy slaughtered saints
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains
cold"
The smoke Of martyrs homes and mar
tyrs' bodies, if rolling up all at once, would
have eclinsed the MONDAY sun and turned
the brightest day the world ever saw into
midnight "Who is this that cometh ND out
of the wilderness like pillars Of smoker
Has persecution ceaSed2 Ask that young
man who is trying to be Christian in store
or factory, who is the butt Of all the mean
witticisims of unEelieving employees. Ask
that wife whose husband makes her fondness
foy fha nf EnH hor.
ing prayer by the bedside a derision. and is
no more fit for her holy companioship than
q filthy crow would be fit companion for
robin or golden oriole. COMPROMISE with
the world and surrender to it's convention
alities and it may let you alone, but all who
will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer
persecution. Be theatre going, card-play-
ing. wine drinking, round dancing Christian,
and you may escape criticism and social
pressure. But be an up and down. out and
out follower of Christ, and wording will
wink to wording as he speaks your
name, and you will be put in many
a doggerel and snubbed by those not
worthy to blacken your Oldest shoes.
When the bridge at Ashtabula broke
sengers to instant death. Mr.. P p. Bliss was
seated on one side of the aisle of the car
writing down Christian song which he was
composing, and on the other side group of
men were playing cards. Whose landing
place in eternity would you prefer that OF
p. P. Bliss, the Gospel singer, or of the card
players'
The great complaint comes from the thea
tres about the ladies' high hats, be"ause they
obstruct the view of the stage, and lady
reporter asked me tho other day what !
thought about it, and told her that il the
indecent pictures Of actresses in the show
windows of Brooklyn and New York were
accurate pictures Of what goes on in many
of the theatres night by night, then it would
ta well II the ladies' hats were a mile high,